India v Sri Lanka , ODI series 2017 – Statistical Preview

Rohit Sharma gets his first opportunity to lead India team after a decade in International cricket and his first challenge is to whitewash Sri Lanka to take the team to the top position in the ICC ODI Team Rankings. In the absence of Virat Kohli, Rohit will be leading a side with an inexperienced middle order and will be up against the Lankans, who will be playing under Thisara Perera for the first time in this format.

All the key stats and numbers ahead of the India-Sri Lanka ODI series:

1 – Number of times Rohit Sharma led a team in his 240 match List A career so far. He led Mumbai in 2011 Vijay Hazare Trophy game against Saurashtra in Vadodara and his team won by 2 -wickets as the skipper scored an unbeaten 96 in the chase of a 206-run target.

7 – If Rohit and Thisara Perera lead the teams as expected on Sunday, the seven India-Sri Lanka ODI games in 2017 will comprise seven different captains. Angelo Mathews led Sri Lanka in Champions Trophy while Upul Tharanga, Chamara Kapugedera and Lasith Malinga led the home side during the 5-match ODI series. Virat Kohli captained India in the previous six ODIs against the Lankans.

22 – Number of ODIs India and Sri Lanka played in India since the start of 2000. The hosts won 17 of them while Sri Lanka won just three games.

24 – Rohit will become the 24th player to lead India in ODI cricket while Perera will be Sri Lanka’s 21st ODI skipper. Only Anil Kumble (217) played more matches than Rohit (171) before leading India in this format.

29.61 – Upul Tharanga’s ODI batting average against India is the lowest among the players with 1000+ runs in India-Sri Lanka ODIs. He has scored 1077 runs in 40 innings with two centuries and five fifties.

69.44 – Shikhar Dhawan’s batting average in ODI cricket against Sri Lanka is the highest for any player in the India-Sri Lanka ODIs (Min: 10 innings). Dhawan has scored 815 runs against them in 13 innings which included three centuries and four fifties.

147 – Rohit’s 147 in the last ODI against New Zealand is the only 130+ score among his last six ODI tons including the five this year. Each of Rohit’s first seven ODI tons as an opener turned out to be 130+ scores including four 150+ scores.

1997 – Sri Lanka last won a bilateral ODI series against India way back in 1997 at home. After that series, the Lankans lost eight out of ten bilateral ODI series to India including 5-0 whitewash in the last two series.